Hidden Stories: Tales of Lesser-Known Characters
by Progeny Ex Machina
Summary: An ongoing archive of my entries for the Gaia NPC Story Contests. Characters, themes, and quality will vary.
1. Collusion

**Prompt:** N/A  
><strong>Written:<strong> Aug 6, 2012  
><strong>Notes:<strong> I wrote this shortly after the Faris event, inspired by a conversation I had in the main event thread (which was run by the same person who went on to start up these contests). The "grammar" incident was something that actually happened...I couldn't resist a tiny self-insert cameo.

* * *

><p>It was unthinkable.<p>

He, Faris Kale, one of Don Kuro's top enforcers, had been humiliated and forced to do the work of his underlings' underlings. It was temporary, the Don had assured him, that smug look on his face grinding Faris's last nerve. He was on probation for failing to evade capture indefinitely. Of course, he had done the job he was meant to do; quite well, in fact, though sadly none of those pesky shopkeepers were killed. Well, Louie wouldn't get in the way too much for the time being, and Edmund (the world's most threatening menswear salesman, the Don had commented, smirking at some private joke) was away on some airship with the Gambino kid and those weird gods who had coerced Gaians into some sort of cult warfare several years ago. But he had been caught, and for that he was given a warning. A rather painful one, to be sure, but Faris conceded it had at least been necessary to fake his death. But now that pompous little twerp had gone too far.

(He had once had a lot of respect for his employer, but lost it when he found that the Don had no idea of the value of a good employee. That was the story he told himself. It had nothing to do with the grunt work he was relegated to. Personal grudges just weren't his style.)

It wasn't even his fault he was brought in. Gaian police were incompetent; everyone knew that. He had no way of knowing that _this_ time, that damned reporter would decide to do the smart thing and put out a warrant to all the freelance detectives and vigilantes among the Gaian public. He had gone among them and faked an interest in the "mystery" in the hopes of diverting suspicion, but had been pegged as the primary suspect almost instantly. Disappearing at that point would have only made things worse, so he had tried to blend in and deny all claims, but dear gods, those wannabe gumshoes were _irritating_. He lost his temper more than once, but it never seemed to scare them off. It was amazing how they could be so spot-on in their suspicions - no matter where he went or what he did, he was constantly hounded that entire weekend - and yet so idiotic in their methods. Every little detail was picked apart and dissected for clues. (He remembered blowing a gasket at one particular moron who had tried to pinpoint his _grammar_ as "potentially suspicious".) He was almost surprised when he was finally dragged in as the culprit, which had made him furious; caught off guard, not by their genius, but by their stupidity!

Of course, the Don had had a lot to say about his "little infiltration". Faris had listened to it all, about how he should have stayed underground, how he had done nothing but call attention to himself the moment he stepped into that crowd, and how, for the love of the gods, he should have had the brains to _take off that damned earring_. Oh yes, he had listened. It was all truly delusional. He had done nothing wrong; those Gaians were always one step ahead, and he knew Kuro knew it. (He hadn't dared say so.)

But little did the Don know what really lay within that "conspicuous" earring. To be exact, it was a set of the world's most precise lockpicking tools, which he was now using to rifle through his boss's private study, searching for something that could take him down, once and for-

He froze as he heard the approaching footsteps, quiet but deliberate.

They ceased. Ice filled his veins as he slowly turned to find Cordell standing in the doorway, appraising him impassively.

After an eternity, she spoke. "You always were lousy at stealth," she remarked. Faris's hands clenched around the edge of the drawer he had just opened, but he didn't reply. Contradicting the Don's second-in-command was not wise. He had learned that very quickly. She would shoot him down in her own maddeningly calm way, and that would be the end of it. And crossing her at a moment like this...

But he could not have anticipated her next words. "If you want to ruin my brother," she said, "you'll need my help." She advanced into the room until she stood over him, staring down mirthlessly at his shock.

"But..." he faltered. "You..." He could not even be infuriated at his loss for words. Cordell raised an eyebrow in impatience, and he found his voice. "With all due respect...you would turn on your own brother?"

"He's gone power-mad," she replied sharply. "His head's too big for his shrimpy little body, and it's time he got knocked down a peg or two. Sending a vampire to kill a rich businessman doesn't make him a god." She paused, then muttered, "If anything, Zhivago should get a little more respect around here."

_Well,_ Faris thought. _This went better than expected._ He had been fully anticipating another "warning" at the very least. Having Cordell on his side would certainly be a boon. "All right," he said at last, standing up and extending his hand. "We'll work together."

She grabbed his hand and shook it firmly. "I'll be calling the shots." When Faris didn't voice any objection, the corner of her mouth twitched. "But yes. I can't believe I'm saying this, but we're going to have to work together."

She knelt down, took a key out from her sleeve, and they set to work.


	2. Step by Step

**Prompt:** Halloween  
><strong>Written:<strong> Nov 16, 2012  
><strong>Notes:<strong> Labtech Rory was an interactive NPC during H2k10. I had a lot of fun with him in that event and couldn't not write about him given the chance. Julia was mentioned in several of the NPC journals during the thematically similar H2k4, and was implied to be two-timing 013 and 062...or something. I always wondered what happened to her.

* * *

><p>Step. Step. Step. Step. Each step echoed in the narrow hallway, lit only by his own glow. He had only been there several days, but it felt like an eternity. One more eternity of searching, stumbling, finding nothing. He was finally here, in the old facility, but it held no answers. None of the answers he so desperately sought. It was abandoned, he knew, four years ago - and it was <em>four<em>, not ten - but he had hoped that, maybe, there would be a scrap left over. Something that would tell him what he needed to know.

When he had investigated the facility beneath the mansion, he had found a charred, crumbling husk. Ashes floated down from the edges of broken walls, stirred by his footsteps. Tiny shards of glass littered the floors, some with identifiable numbers and lines, some with worn labels still intact. He was astonished. Surely, he had been there mere days before, and it had been alive and functioning, but now...

Alive...

That, it seemed, was the key. Alive. He had woken up in a graveyard after the chemical neutralizer had proven weaker than normal, and everything had changed. For the better half of a month, he had come into contact with thousands of people - how strange to meet so many people, but he was stranded outside of the facility, it couldn't be helped - and all of them had tried to convince him that he, himself, was dead. It was preposterous, really. He was sentient. He was solid. He was...well, he had been sporting a strange, deathly pallor of late, but that was merely stress. He was stressed, certainly. How could he not be overwhelmed and disoriented by how much the world had changed in only a few hours? Days at most?

But he had found a laboratory, a small makeshift facility, within the chaos, and the comforting atmosphere of scientific progress had eased some of his fears. Certainly the people working there were eccentric, and spent most of their time on idle chatter and odd activities, but he had worked with sublevel 29; he was used to that. But they had also stirred up even more questions within him. They had told him of strange and impossible things and given him ample evidence, evidence that was difficult to contradict. They had demonstrated knowledge of G Corp, far beyond what was declassified. They had _almost_ convinced him that somehow, as unlikely as it sounded, six years had passed him right by.

They were gone now. He had left them in his search for answers, and when he returned, the place was empty. The streets surrounding it, which had been so full of life during that fateful October, held nothing but remnants; it was, dare he say it, a ghost town. He was reminded of the time when, along his quest, he had ended up in a strange place, a place called Halloweentown...

* * *

><p>"Oh, pardon me," he said, turning to face the woman he had nearly bumped into. When he did so, he noticed that she was abnormally pale, and appeared to be glowing in the dark. (He had noticed that the place was always dark; it was an intriguing phenomenon, one he would have to return and study someday.)<p>

"It's no problem," said the woman easily, smiling and turning to walk away.

"Err, wait a moment," he said to her. "Have you perhaps thought about seeing a medical professional? Because, no offense meant, but you look rather unwell."

She studied him critically for a moment. "You're a labtech, right? Or are you just dressed as one?"

"Dressed as..." He glanced around at the perpetual Halloween decorations, and recalled the numerous strange people he had seen on his way through the town, all dressed in costumes as if it were Halloween all the time - vampires, zombies, werewolves, extraterrestrial beings with large green heads and black eyes, even some that appeared to be minor deities of some sort - and considered his answer. "I'm from out of town," he responded, "and I am indeed a labtech. However, my work is highly classified, and I cannot-"

"I knew it," she gushed, beaming widely. Then she frowned. "You...would you happen to know any labtechs by the number 13 or 62?"

He blinked, suddenly on his guard. "I worked with 062's team on several projects recently, and 013 was among the workers on that team. How do you know them?" he asked, suspicious. He had hoped the security leaks had only spread to the people he had dealt with over Halloween; the thought of certain things being known to the world at large was a frightening prospect.

"Well..." she began, hesitant. "I haven't seen them since they died, and I was wondering if you might know where they are..." She stopped, looking down and rubbing her wrist uncertainly.

"I don't know why people keep telling me that I and my coworkers are dead," he snapped, more harshly than he intended; the woman looked at him sympathetically. Desperate, he rambled on. "I don't know why everyone is telling me that the year is 2010. And I don't know why I can't find anyone, or anything, or any scientifically viable answers to this madness."

"You're one of them," she said quietly. "You don't know yet." He waited for her to elaborate. "Let me tell you something about this town...what's your name?"

"Rory," he answered.

"Ah," she nodded. "Well, I'm Julia. I live here...well, I wouldn't say I live, exactly. You see, this is Halloweentown. It's the only place where people of all states of life...and afterlife...can lead normal lives. If I were anywhere else, I could only exist at night, but here it's _always_ night. I can be with my daughter, even though I'm dead." She smiled. "Nicki loves it here. She's made friends with some of the witches in her school...even learned some magic from them. I can raise her here, and I can be as strong and as real as a human, all of the time." She spread her arms and grinned. "It's a wonderful place."

He looked at her carefully. "So you're saying that all of these people are actually...vampires, and witches, and aliens?"

Julia nodded. "You thought they were all in costumes, didn't you? Well, you get used to it. And people do come here just to walk around all dressed up and bask in the spirit of Halloween."

He shook his head and fixed her with a cool stare. "There are no such things as ghosts," he said flatly. "There is no such thing as life beyond death." She looked down again, clearly disappointed that her ruse had failed. "I must be going, but if I find 013 or 062, I will give them your regards. Farewell." With that, he turned and left, determinedly ignoring the lights and the sounds, the sensation of something _unnatural_ around him. Instead, he focused on his footsteps.

* * *

><p>Thinking back on the encounter, he felt a chill run through him. He shivered, but kept moving forward. Step. Step. Julia had tried to feed him the same old insanity. Step. Step. He would never find the truth surrounded by all these lies. Step. Step. But how could so many people be wrong? Step. Step. Perhaps there was some truth to this ghost business after all...Pause. No. He shoved the thoughts away. Irrational, all of it. He continued walking, focusing only on his feet...the one thing he was sure of, now that the world had fallen apart around him.<p>

The sound of his footsteps faded away as the sun began to rise.


	3. The Eternal Flame

**Prompt:** Item NPCs  
><strong>Written:<strong> Dec 11, 2013  
><strong>Notes:<strong> I chose to write about two characters from some of the site's oldest item sets, the ones that hint at a story but refuse to elaborate. Here are the descriptions from the items.

-_When she was growing up, she defied her parents. When she came of age, she defied the law. No wonder she was executed._  
>-<em>She was born into a life of poverty and despair. Despite the odds, she rose to become the greatest leader her province ever knew.<em>

* * *

><p>"Who are you supposed to be?"<p>

The girl was staring her down fiercely, hands on her hips. Lex raised one eyebrow and settled into her best_ do-you-really-want-to-mess-with-me_ look, but the girl didn't back off. "Well?"

"If you don't know me, you don't need to," Lex snapped. "Now get out of my business."

"I'm not getting out of your business until you get out of my house," the girl said, in what Lex thought was a laughable attempt at a dignified tone. It might almost have been convincing if not for the fact that she vaguely resembled a drowned rat.

"Oh, this is your house?" she responded mockingly. "I thought it was a bunch of discarded boards." That had been the wrong thing to say to the girl, who immediately gave her a glare that could have melted steel, stepping forward until she was right in Lex's face. Lex held her ground, quietly noting how skinny the girl was. She could take her, if she had to.

"Listen to me," the girl hissed. "I don't know who you are or where you came from, but you have no business being here. I worked my butt off to be able to live here. I'm going to get into college, and I'm going to get out of this place. And you aren't going to mess with my future."

Lex gave a derisive laugh. "I'm not here to fuck with your _future_," she scoffed. "I'm here to get out of the fucking ninety-degree weather. You're the one too stupid to lock the door. Not very promising for your college applications, huh?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Obviously you don't know the first thing about intelligence," she retorted. "If you want to get out of the heat, then go back to your parents." Eyeing Lex's clothes disdainfully, she added, "With that fancy designer outfit of yours, I'm sure they've got air conditioning."

Lex glanced down at herself. Truthfully, she hadn't exactly _bought_ those clothes, but she wasn't about to tell that to some high-and-mighty freak she'd just met. "Yeah. Sure. I'm just going to go beg my parents to take me back," she said. "Doesn't matter that they're tyrants bent on repressing me. A drowned rat living in a shack told me to do it, so by gods, you've turned my life around! I'm going right back there and making nice!" She punctuated her sarcasm with a cheerful swing of her arm.

The girl tilted her head, the look of hostility fading to wariness. "You got kicked out?"

"Psht. More like they freed me." Lex folded her arms. "I do what I want now. And what I want is to avoid sweating to death, so if you don't mind..." She turned and started walking further into the house, only to be stopped by the girl grabbing her arm. "Hey!"

"Look," the girl sighed. She opened her mouth several times to speak, but stopped. Finally, she settled on, "You can hang out here. Just stay out of my way." She dropped Lex's arm, keeping her eyes averted.

Lex raised her eyebrow again. "Don't _touch_ me, and maybe I will," she conceded testily. "Why the sudden 180?"

"I don't like you," the girl began. Lex's mouth curled up in her best _really-I-never-would-have-guessed_ expression, and the girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I don't care for your attitude, and I think you're an idiot. But I don't want any more..." She sighed again. "Look, I just don't want to leave anyone out on the street, okay? I grew up there. It was hell." Her eyes softened slightly. "My name's Felicia, by the way."

"Lex," she said without thinking. Then she narrowed her eyes. "You really are one of those goody-goody sorts, aren't you?"

The newly-identified Felicia pinched the bridge of her nose, walking off down the hall. "I'm going to regret this..."

* * *

><p>"Well, I don't agree with it," she shrugged, sitting cross-legged on the bed. "But...I kind of see where you're coming from."<p>

Lex's eyes widened in surprise. "You do?"

"Yeah," Felicia admitted. "I mean, I've always done what I was told. I figured I owed it to my parents, you know?" Lex nodded, knowing what had happened to Felicia's parents. "And a lot of the rules I follow, well, they're there for our own good. But I guess..." She picked up the frayed blanket and twirled a strand of it around her finger. "I guess if you've never been allowed any freedom, you just start to hate everything. You see it as part of your cage."

"I never thought of it like that," Lex said honestly. "All I know is, they were really weird. They barely even let me leave the house. I was home-schooled, and I had to put up with their bullshit 24/7." She scoffed. "I'm sick of being civilized. I was always sick of it. I think I was born sick of it."

"So you defied it, and now you're free," Felicia finished.

Lex nodded. "Yeah. The more they tried to mold me into the prim little princess, the more I wanted to break things." She looked at the blanket Felicia was twirling, lost in thought. "I want to break society. I want to get rid of all these rules. Everyone should be free."

Felicia put down the blanket strand. "But those rules are there for a reason," she said. "If society collapsed, people wouldn't be any more free than they are now. What we need is a good leader. One who's firm, but fair."

"Yeah, I can agree with that. The governor is so...robotic," she commented. "It's like she doesn't understand people at all. And the cops just do whatever she says." She gazed at her roommate thoughtfully. "Is that what you want to do? You want to fix the province?"

"There will still be rules," Felicia defended. "I'm not making this place into an anarchist paradise. Just...one where less people suffer."

Lex scoffed. "I think we're going to have some problems when we're older." Then she smiled. "But for now, you're kind of okay."

Felicia grinned back. "You're kind of okay too."

* * *

><p>"I grew up on the street, you know," Felicia said quietly, looking down at her new shoes. They were nothing fancy, but they were clean, and they fit her. "Now I'm going to college."<p>

Lex smiled. "A good one, too." She flung her arm around her roommate, who smiled weakly back at her.

"I just don't know if...what do I do now? I mean, what if I'm not meant for this? What if I'm just supposed to live out the rest of my life the way my parents did?" Felicia looked away from Lex, speaking quickly and nervously. She hadn't dared to give voice to these thoughts before.

"Well, I grew up in a big fancy house with big fancy parents, and now I'm here," Lex grinned. "Maybe you're supposed to take my place. In the _civilized_ world," she added with a touch of resentment.

Felicia sighed. "How did we come to this? I remember walking in here after a long day at work and arguing with a loudmouthed squatter, and now I can't imagine life without you."

Her best friend laughed. "You'll be fine. You've worked for this. And most importantly, you _want_ it. You'll stick with it." She gave Felicia a comforting squeeze.

"Yes, but...what will you do? I'll be a hundred miles away," she whispered.

"I'll do what I've always done," Lex said confidently. "Whatever the hell I want." Felicia giggled, and they embraced. A car horn honked outside. "You should go."

"I know," mumbled Felicia, slowly letting go. "I'll miss you."

Lex's expression sobered. "I'll miss you too." As Felicia opened the door, she added, "Good luck out there."

Felicia turned back, looking more grave than Lex had ever seen her. "You're the one who'll need it," she said, and walked out to the waiting car.

* * *

><p>"...and for your crimes, the jurisdiction of this province has decreed that you will be executed at dawn tomorrow," finished the governor. She looked down at the kneeling Lex, who was restrained by handcuffs and two burly officers. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"<p>

Lex looked back up at her, the gray half-moons below her eyes making her face appear gaunt and pale. She hadn't struggled when they came to arrest her. She hadn't tried to run, and she hadn't fought back. It was as if, at the last moment, her spirit had just died. "Nah," Lex said flatly. "Nothing to say."

Felicia, governor of the province, looked into Lex's eyes for a moment longer, then turned away. "Escort her to the holding cell," she instructed, and the three people in front of her left without comment. As she watched them go, she struggled not to cry. Though she had always had a strong moral code, and stuck firmly to the law, she couldn't deny she held a soft spot for the notorious criminal. They had traveled two very different paths, but for a while, those paths had met, and they walked together. They had been friends...they had been sisters.

"I should have known it would end this way," she whispered to herself. "I'm sorry, Lex. I should have helped you..."

But deep down inside, she knew that inside the girl's spirit was an eternal flame, one she could never have quenched.


End file.
